Six reached on base hits, five on walks and another on a fielder’s choice.

But with plenty in his pitching arsenal, his teammates supplying stellar defense behind him and a lead to work with, the traffic didn’t seem to bother the senior ace.

Zilla held Holy Cross to just

2 for 15 at the plate with runners on base, Tim Barbolish had three hits and an RBI and Josh Sawka added an insurance run on a seventh-inning homer as the third-ranked Bucks blanked No. 5 Holy Cross, 2-0, in a Lackawanna League Division III game.

With the win, Dunmore (9-2 in division, 9-2 overall) clinched at least a playoff for the Division III title. The Bucks last won a division title in 1998, and a win over Carbondale Area on Monday would give them the outright crown.

“We’re pretty confident, but we know that we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Zilla said. “We’re still making small mistakes. We’ll fix those eventually.”

Barbolish gave Dunmore an early lead, scoring Kevin Quinn from second base with a one-out single in the top of the second.

“I went up there with the mindset that, if I had a guy on base, I was going to try to get the ball in play,” Barbolish said. “Score some runs, it changes the complexion of the game really early.”

Holy Cross (7-3, 7-3) had at least one runner on base in every inning, but Zilla wiggled out of any jam he faced.

With a runner on second base and one out in the first inning, Zilla got a pop-up back to the mound and a strikeout to end the inning. In the second, an outfield assist and another pop-up erased one runner and stranded another. In the fifth inning, two pop-ups to second baseman Dave Lopatka snuffed out a rally.

The team’s biggest stop came in the sixth inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Lopatka scooped a ground ball despite being shielded by one of the runners and got the second out at first base. On the next play, shortstop Matt Higgins gobbled up a grounder and made the long throw across the diamond to end the threat.

“We’re very confident (in the field),” Lopatka said. “With any of our guys on the mound, we know they can make plays and we can make plays in the field.

“I think everyone just kind of feeds off of it. You see guys make plays in the field, and then we get big at-bats in the next inning.”

That was certainly the case Monday.

Sawka led off the seventh, and smashed a fly ball high over the tall fence in left field for a home run. The slugger also went deep in the teams’ first meeting, a 4-3 win by the Bucks.

“I had no idea when it went off the bat,” Sawka said. “I just saw the kid turn and run, and then he just stopped and I knew it was over.

“We had to get another run to secure Zilla on the mound and make sure he threw well. In case he gave up a run, he had an extra one to give.”

Holy Cross managed to get the tying run on at first with two outs, but Zilla ended the game with his fourth strikeout.

The hard-throwing righty has now gone 27⅔ innings without allowing a run, dating back to April 18. He’s allowed 10 hits over that span, and his ERA for the season sits at 0.35.

“He’s such a competitor,” Dunmore coach Mark Finan said. “Even when he loses the strike zone and he walks guys at times and he can’t get his curveball over — he just continues to battle and finds ways to get out of innings.”

“It’s tough. The last two games, (we’ve) had a lot of baserunners on,” Holy Cross coach Sandy Menichetti said. “It was a great baseball game today. They had two key hits, and they got two runs. We didn’t get those key hits today.”

Contact the writer:

cfoley@timesshamrock.com

Dunmore Holy Cross

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Lopatka 2b 2 0 0 0 Boyle p 4 0 1 0

Salzmann c 3 0 0 0 Mies c 2 0 1 0

Rinaldi 1b 2 0 0 0 Demian cf 4 0 1 0

Sawka rf 3 1 1 1 Wetter 3b 1 0 0 0

Quinn 3b 1 1 0 0 Palmiter lf 3 0 1 0

Barbolish lf 3 0 3 1 Shattin rf 3 0 0 0

Zilla p 2 0 0 0 Yzeik 1b 3 0 2 0

Mandarano ph 1 0 0 0 Tomaino ss 0 0 0 0

Higgins ss 0 0 0 0 Backus dh 1 0 0 0

McMynne dh 3 0 0 0 Shattin pr 0 0 0 0

Foley-McGinty cf 1 0 0 0 Borgia 2b 3 0 0 0

Totals 21 2 4 2 Totals 24 0 6 0

Dunmore 010 000 1 — 2

Holy Cross 000 000 0 — 0

2B: Alex Demian (HC).

HR: Josh Sawka (DUN).

Dunmore IP H R ER BB SO

Zilla, WP 7 6 0 0 5 4

Holy Cross IP H R ER BB SO

Boyle, LP 7 4 2 2 4 7

Records: DUN 9-2, 9-2; HC 7-3, 7-3

Mid Valley 9, Riverside 1

At Mid Valley, Austin Mooty doubled and had two RBIs to lead the Spartans, who exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Matt Amaral doubled for Riverside.

Riverside Mid Valley

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Panek ss 2 1 0 0 Varaksa dh 2 2 1 0

Muth ph 1 0 0 0 Chieffalo lf 1 0 0 0

Sottile 2b 3 0 1 0 Pieshefski lf 0 0 0 0

Bernardi ph 1 0 1 0 Nemitz ss/p 2 1 2 1

Amaral lf 3 0 1 0 Horvath ph 1 0 0 0

Roche 1b 2 0 0 1 Petcavage p/p 1 1 0 1

Orloski 3b 3 0 1 0 Urso ph 1 0 1 0

Mailen rf 2 0 0 0 Wallo dr 0 0 0 0

Czankner ph 1 0 0 0 Donlin 3b 2 1 1 2

Sottile c 1 0 0 0 Abda cf 3 1 0 0

Kieler c 2 0 0 0 Mrzejwski rf 3 1 0 0

Spinelli cf 3 0 1 0 Frnaszwski rf 1 0 0 0

Piccotti p 1 0 1 0 Homnchk 1b 2 1 1 1

Gorton p 1 0 1 0 MacCallm 1b 2 0 1 0

Gouldsbury c 4 0 1 0

Mooty 2b 3 1 1 2

Totals 26 1 7 1 Totals 28 9 9 7

Riverside 001 000 0 — 1

Mid Valley 207 000 x — 9

2B: Matt Amaral (RIV), Austin Mooty (MV).

Riverside IP H R ER BB SO

Piccotti, LP 2.2 7 9 6 5 3

Gorton 3.1 2 0 0 3 2

Mid Valley IP H R ER BB SO

Petcavage, WP 5 6 1 1 0 5

Nemitz 2 1 0 0 1 1

Records: MV 8-3, 8-3; RIV 2-7, 3-8.

Lakeland 9, Carbondale 2

At Lakeland, Shane Rivenburgh, Christian Selvenis and Shawn Carito each had two-run hits in a 9-run second inning to lead the Chiefs.

Carbondale Area Lakeland

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Surace 2b 4 0 0 0 Bomba cf 1 1 0 0

Arendt p 4 0 1 0 Cavanagh cf 2 0 0 0

Arthur c 3 0 1 0 Rvenbrgh 1b 3 1 2 2

Wright 3b 4 0 0 0 Pittack ph 1 0 0 0

Larson 1b 2 1 0 0 Blevins 3b 2 1 1 1

Rossetti cf 3 0 0 0 Tratthen 3b 2 0 1 0

Nepa ss 2 1 0 0 Hayes 2b 2 0 0 0

Escott rf 2 0 1 1 Clss-Wltn ph 1 0 0 0

Mushensky lf 2 0 1 1 Roche lf 1 2 1 0

Polovitch lf 1 0 0 0

Selvenis dh 2 1 1 2

Richards p 0 0 0 0

Art p/p 0 0 0 0

Natale ss 2 1 1 0

Romano ph 1 0 0 0

Longstreet rf 1 1 0 0

Rupp rf 1 0 0 0

Carito c 3 1 1 2

Totals 26 2 4 2 Totals 26 9 8 7

Carbondale Area 000 101 0 — 2

Lakeland 090 000 x — 9

2B: Christian Selvenis (LAK).

Carbondale Area IP H R ER BB SO

Arendt, LP 1.1 3 6 6 3 2

Larson 4.2 5 3 3 2 6

Lakeland IP H R ER BB SO

Richards, WP 5 4 1 1 2 8

Art 2 0 1 0 1 0

Records: LAK 4-6, 4-7; CAR 0-9, 0-11.

Scranton 3, West Scranton 2

At Scranton, Sean Padden had two hits, including the game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the 7th inning to lead the Knights in a Division I matchup.

At Western Wayne, Collin Ferguson, Max Kranick, and Daulton Rissinger each had two doubles and three RBIs to lead Valley View.

Kyle Johnson doubled and had an RBI for Western Wayne.

Valley View Western Wayne

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Barrett cf 1 0 0 0 Gillette 2b 3 0 0 0

Kranick dh 4 2 2 1 Troiano 3b 2 1 0 0

Ferguson 3b 4 3 2 3 Johnson ss 3 1 2 1

Kranick ss 5 3 2 3 Murphy dh 3 0 2 0

Nardelli c 4 3 2 1 Gillis cf 0 0 0 0

Rissinger 1b 3 2 2 3 Curtis c 1 0 1 0

Peters 2b 1 0 0 1 Gagliardi ph 1 0 0 0

Peters p 1 0 0 0 Haines lf 1 1 0 0

McHale lf 2 1 1 1 Komar lf 1 0 0 0

Canevari lf 1 0 0 0 Polley 1b 3 0 0 0

Bordo p 3 1 2 1 Schane rf 1 0 0 0

Puza ph 1 0 1 0 Gillis p/p 0 0 0 0

Rissinger rf 2 1 1 2 Stevens p 2 1 2 1

Aniska rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 33 16 15 16 Totals 21 4 7 2

Valley View 904 300 0 — 16

Western Wayne 102 100 0 — 4

2B: Kyle Johnson (WW), Collin Ferguson (VV).:

Valley View IP H R ER BB SO

Bordo, WP 4 5 3 2 0 5

Peters 1 2 1 1 2 2

Western Wayne IP H R ER BB SO

Gillis, LP 1 7 9 8 1 0

Stevens 4 8 7 4 3 1

Records: VV 7-3; WW 2-9.

Old Forge 13, Susquehanna 3

At Old Forge, Jake Manetti went 3 for 3, including two doubles, and two RBIs to lead the Blue Devils, who scored eight runs in the second inning, in a Division III-IV crossover game.

Matthew Trotta added two hits and three RBIs for Old Forge.

Susquehanna Old Forge

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Felter p 2 0 0 0 Donovan rf 2 0 1 0

Soden ss 3 0 1 2 Rinaldi cf 1 1 1 0

Miller c 3 0 0 0 Smith cf 3 1 1 1

Towner cf 2 0 0 0 Manetti ss 3 2 3 3

Burdick 1b 2 0 1 0 Voyack ph 0 0 0 0

Brinton 3b 3 0 1 0 Cantarella p 1 1 1 1

Acosta 2b 2 1 1 0 Hobbs p/p 2 1 1 0

Collins lf 2 1 1 0 Carpenter 2b 0 0 0 0

Haley rf 1 1 0 0 Papi 1b 1 2 1 0

Ball 3b 0 0 0 0 Rizzo ph 1 0 0 0

Trotta dh 2 2 2 3

Grochwski lf 0 0 0 0

Fuller ph 1 0 0 0

Schuback c 2 1 1 2

Grochwski 3b 2 1 1 1

Gutowski 2b 2 1 1 2

Totals 20 3 5 2 Totals 23 13 14 13

Susquehanna 002 01 — 3

Old Forge 580 0x — 13

Game ended in 5th — 10-run rule.

2B: Jake Manetti (OF) 2, Nick Acosta (SUS), Zach Collins (SUS).

Susquehanna IP H R ER BB SO

Felter, LP 2 14 13 6 3 0

Burdick 2 0 0 0 2 2

Old Forge IP H R ER BB SO

Cantarella 1.2 0 0 0 0 4

Hobbs, WP 2.1 5 2 2 0 3

Gutowski 1 0 1 1 3 0

Records: OF 7-5; SUS 0-11.

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